It is a beautiful drive from Carolina Native Nursery to Lake Lure through the mountains of Western North Carolina. Takes about one and a half hours. Lake Lure, home of Chimney Rock State Park, is the location where Dirty Dancing was filmed, as well as the final scenes from Last of the Mohicans. It is a truly spectacular place. The only drawback is the obscene amount of exotic invasive plants along the drive. I know that many people only notice the kudzu but most of you would recognize much more.

The list of exotic invasive plants abundant in North Carolina is very long. Many of them were introduced before the American Revolution, while others like kudzu and miscanthus were introduced much later and Bradford pears not long ago. But on this drive, more than half of the plants listed on N.C. State’s Invasive, Exotic Plants of the Southeast are in full force. In fact, throughout my drive, Japanese knotweed, tree of heaven and multiflora rose can be found in dozens of occurrences. For over 10 minutes straight at 60 miles per hour, miscanthus is in view and for over 18 minutes kudzu is continually seen. It bums me out every time I go to the lake and I go as often as I can in the summer.

It’s upsetting because of all the awesome native plants that I see where these invasives aren’t. There are incredible stands of Mt. Laurel and rhododendron, both R. maximum and the lesser known R. carolinianum. Mayapple and painted trillium appear so early in the spring I see them in the dormant kudzu patches and wonder what would be there if the massed vines were gone. Fragrant sweetshrub highlights the route in early summer, bloodroot in early spring, along with cucumber magnolias, and much more.

The economic and social impacts of invasive species include effects on property values, agricultural productivity, utility operations, native fisheries, tourism, outdoor recreation, and the costs associated with invasive species control efforts. A 2005 study estimated that the economic damages associated with invasive species in the United States reached approximately $120 billion a year. That’s real money. Consider that in 2013 the federal government spent $53 billion to cover the medical expenses for those 73 million Americans that do not have health care insurance. Just some perspective.

It is very easy for everyone to search for what’s invasive in your area. Many of these plants were introduced by the horticulture industry. We also know that some of these plants are sadly still in production. Many are available at your local garden centers or big-box stores. Is it irresponsible to grow and sell them? The thoughtful and rational answer is yes. There are substitutes for all of them. There may be sterile alternatives. These plants are ecological nightmares, displacing native plants and ecosystems, and in many cases aesthetically ugly.

What should be done about them in our industry? Is it better to self-regulate or wait until laws and regulations are passed? Of course, the responsible thing to stop the spread is to stop growing and selling them. We could prohibit them from being on display at trade shows, associations can work to educate members (some are, or have), and actively promote alternatives. No one seems to like regulations handed down in the form of new laws and ordinances. Staying ahead of them is always preferable. Hopefully you have read what is going on in California. The collaboration between Plant Right and the Plant California Alliance are working to get exotic, invasive plants off the market through education from the consumer, to the garden centers and nurseries. And they are successful.

Should we be doing everything we can to prevent the next exotic invasive? Who is liable to clean up the mess when a new one is introduced? Would you like to be liable to clean up the mess that the Bradford pear is causing? Is it plant pollution? Taking the right approach now is reasonable. The Plant Risk Evaluator tool, a method for determining a plant’s potential for becoming invasive in any specific region, is being utilized now. This tool is an adaptation of a broader weed risk assessment screening tool and allows for highly accurate (95%) predictions specifically tailored to horticultural plants. Is it too much to ask that all newly introduced plants are assessed through a tool such as this before they enter the marketplace? Could a tool such as this limit someone’s liability if a newly introduced plant is found to be highly invasive and disruptive?

There are many questions to ask. We have all seen natural areas and ecosystems destroyed by patches of exotic invasive plants. And most of us think these natural areas need to be preserved and protected. A proactive and preventive approach in new plant introduction by our industry is one of the smartest things we can do.

Are your meetings creating valuable new insights for the business or are they a series of multitasking-filled monologues? Are they productive conversations about key business issues or a rehashing of the same stuff you’ve been talking about for months? Are your meetings getting better or worse? Answer the sample questions found in the box above. A score of three or more “Nos” indicates an opportunity to dramatically improve the efficacy and productivity of your meetings.

A meeting can be defined as a gathering of two or more people featuring collective interaction and engagement using conversations to make progress toward a purpose. Note the use of the words “interaction” and “conversations” in the definition. If you find yourself in meetings and especially teleconferences on a regular basis where the format is a primarily one-way presentation, there’s ample opportunity to improve your situation.

Research shows that meetings consume about 40% of working time for managers.

Up to half of the content of meetings is either not relevant to participants or could be delivered outside of a meeting.

• 20% of meeting participants should not be there.
• 40% of meeting time is spent on information that could be delivered before the meeting.
• 50% of meetings executives attend are rated as “ineffective” or “very ineffective.”

There are five critical steps you can follow to help your organization take a more strategic approach to meetings and teleconferences.

1. Conduct a meetings audit

Before you specify new meeting guidelines, it’s helpful to first baseline what’s happening today. Look at factors such as the types of meetings you attend, the frequency of meetings and the length of meetings. Then identify the reasons these meetings exist and if there are any meetings that are not necessary. Once the audit is complete, it provides a bounty of useful information to shape the future state of meetings.

2. Identify current meeting mistakes

Meeting mistakes occur in three phases: pre-meeting, in-meeting and post-meeting. They can also be categorized as either leader or participant mistakes. A common in-meeting mistake by the leader is failing to rein in off-track conversations. A common in-meeting mistake by participants is multitasking, which conveys a lack of interest in the topic and/or a lack of respect for the person speaking at the time. There are approximately 25 mistakes to look for in the three phases to ensure that the group is not sabotaging their own efforts at improvement.

3. Educate managers on what good looks like

Begin this step by collecting the current best practices being used by managers within the organization. Then look externally to see what principles and guidelines are being used by other organizations within and outside your industry as it relates to meetings. Examples of best practice principles include things such as “identify decisions to make in the meeting” and “create a virtual table of participants for teleconferences.” Use these best practices to compile a list of new meeting standards.

4. Use meeting tools

One of the keys to leading effective and efficient meetings is aligning the goals of the meeting with the appropriate tools and processes to get there. For instance, if you’re leading a strategy development meeting, there are more than 70 different strategic thinking tools you can choose from to help your team think and plan strategically. The key is to select the handful of tools that make the most sense based on the context of the team, business goals, competitive landscape, etc. Be clear on your meeting goals and then choose the process and tools to get there.

5. Develop meeting checklists

Research in the social sciences on habits shows that to effectively change someone’s behavior, it’s helpful to provide physical or environmental triggers. One highly effective trigger is the use of meeting checklists. These physical reminders ensure that teams across the organization are aware of the basic meeting principles, techniques, and tools to optimize their meeting time. However, the checklists are only valuable if they are accompanied by the corresponding discipline to utilize them on a consistent basis.

Effective meetings can be energizing forums to help your team set direction, make decisions and unify efforts. Ineffective meetings can be anchors that weigh people down with irrelevant information, didactic presentations and unclear priorities. Which type do you attend today? Do you think it will be different tomorrow?

Photo courtesy of Star Roses and Plants

Star Roses and Plants launched a new optional brand, Bloomables, which was designed to focus on the flowers, giving consumers a “garden that blooms all season,” says Bradd Yoder, president of Star Roses and Plants. Bloomables consists of more than 35 varieties and will be available at retail in spring of 2020.

Consumer friendly tags present the common name first, which consumers are more likely to recognize and there is a simple call out, showing why the plant is special or how it can be used. For more: bloomables.com

Mark Dwyer, Rotary Botanical
Gardens

2 perennials named AAS winners

Echinacea Sombrero Baja Burgundy and Rudbeckia × ‘American Gold Rush’ are the first winners from the All-America Selections three-winter Herbaceous Perennial Trial. This trial, in partnership with the Perennial Plant Association (PPA), was launched in 2016 with five entries grown against 10 similar comparisons. PPA’s input and assistance was instrumental in creating a multi-year trial where the proper plant characteristics were evaluated and rated.

AAS Winners are marketed through social media, public relations and trade shows and are grown in 190 AAS Display Gardens across North America.
For more: all-americaselections.org

White Flower Farms

Ball Seed partners with ForemostCo Inc.

Ball Seed recently entered into a co-exclusive agreement with ForemostCo, Inc., a Miami-based young plant supplier for foliage, tropical and succulent plants. The partnership meets the growing market demand for houseplants and other trending plant genetics, according to a released statement. Through the new partnership, ForemostCo’s year-round availability of rooted and unrooted cuttings, vegetative and tissue-cultured liners, air-layered plants, bulbs, canes and rhizomes will combine with Ball Seed’s systems, sales coverage and service model to bring these key products to customers. For more: ballseed.com, foremostco.com